So here is my dilema. I am seriously considering eloping because I cannot see spending 40,000 on a wedding. I would rather pay for a house.
So here is my question.. did any of you have money saved up first or did you save as you went? How much did you save and how did you have enough to pay for the wedding? I need help beforE i JUST get married on an island... I want to make a good decision
October Bliss
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
We had no money saved when we he popped the question. I have said numerous times that I want to elope - he wants the big wedding.
When I actually sat down with my mother and discussed a destination wedding (I thought that would give me the elopement, and him the family and friends) I realized that his family couldn't afford airfare to get to the Dominican Republic.
The more I think about it, the more I realize, it really is worth it. We are both older and this is a first wedding for both of us. I don't want to look back 10 years from now and wish that I had my dream wedding (something he realized before I did when he refused to elope).
MrsMagoo
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
Ya know...I'm sitting here reading all these responses...and I am SO happy that we have changed our wedding. I don't want to regret anything about our special day. This is something that we have always talked about...and even though we aren't having a 'traditional destination wedding' with just immediate family invited (everyone is still invited and we will most likely hae 50 - 70 people there), it's really important to dow what you are going to be happy with. Remember that it's YOUR day and no one else's. If the destination wedding fits/suits your relationship and your wants for a wedding, then I think you should go for it. We are flying everyone in our immediate family down and giving them 3 nights there (an additional 18 people outside us) and having a full ceremony and reception and it's half the cost for everything.
TheMrandMrsof2008
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
sEE THats a good idea but our families are too huge. I will just have to tighten our belts..and plan the WEDDING OF OUR DREAMS...economically! hahahaha
THANK YOU TO ALL!
Hamptonsbride06
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
Off season weddings are more cost effective, day time weddings are generally cheaper, and just as elegant, its hard, but you can totally pull it off!
To get our guest list down we decided to only invite people we talk to on a regular basis, no need to invite your fourth cousin twice removed, unless you speak to her regularly. It really helped get the list down.
best of luck!
Brassgirl9
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
Well to be honest my parents payed for the entire reception, which is a majority of the expense for the wedding. The rest is up to me and fh. I honestly don't think i could afford a wedding without my parents help.
cmc
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
Posted by HAPPYTOBREATHE
So here is my dilema. I am seriously considering eloping because I cannot see spending 40,000 on a wedding. I would rather pay for a house.
So here is my question.. did any of you have money saved up first or did you save as you went? How much did you save and how did you have enough to pay for the wedding? I need help beforE i JUST get married on an island... I want to make a good decision
I said this SAME exact thing but we decided to have a typical wedding reception since we'd never do anything like it again - ugh! To be honest, I would have ran away to the islands or had a smaller, more intimate wedding. The typical wedding thing is too stressful and too many people are involved.
But to answer your question, I said there was no way in h#$$ I was going to go in debt for a wedding so we planned for a longer engagement and we made it a point to save a certain amount of money each month that would put us in a good position so we didn't have to get into debt. I know they say you shouldn't think like this... but... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we make at least half (hopefully more) back in gifts at the reception. The money we make would be saved/invested to put towards a house after we saved a little more.
The cost was a hard pill for me to swallow as well!
Hope that helps and good luck! I'm hear if you ever need to vent during the process!! haha!
cmc
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Re: Honestly..how do I afford this wedding...
Posted by alnem
i think i'm one of the few brides on here that has the mind set that if i had to do it all over again, i would do it on a caribbean island on the beach at sunset with just me, DH, and our immediate families! i didnt realize just how much we had spent until i was on the plane on our way to Aruba (still here and loving it! ) and we added everything up. I've seen 3 weddings on the beach this past week that I've been here and they were absolutely gorgeous!
when we got engaged, we had $0 saved. we used the money we got from our e-party as down payment $ for a few vendors and then put in $100 each every week into our joint savings account for the duration of our engagement (18 months). i also sold my car (luckily i didnt need it because i had a company car) which was an extra $8k in the bank. after all was said and done and we had paid off and tipped everyone, we have about $1k left in our savings account, sad but true. my parents present to us was paying the final balance on the hall, which was great because we wouldnt have been able to get married if not for them! it was heartbreaking to watch our account go from 5 figures down to virtually nothing in a matter of weeks!
so to sum up, if i had to do it all over again, i'd have the caribbean beach wedding and save the money for a house! DH and I feel like we have to play catch up now so that we can buy a house and start our family. if i had the beach wedding, we'd have the house already and possibly a HM baby!!!!
I'm telling you... summer dresses and flip flops all the way!!
